We have finally arrived at the finale of Fire Country Season 1. It’s been quite a ride since Bode Leone arrived at Edgewater as a Three Rock inmate 21 episodes ago. Lots of ups and downs later, the day has finally come for Bode’s parole hearing. But just when we tell ourselves that nothing can go wrong, life provides us with a reality check. Bode’s drug test has come back positive. Will Bode be sent back to prison on the same day he was supposed to return home?
Spoilers Ahead
Doubt
It’s been raining heavily in Edgewater. And what the rain is notorious for is its ability to add to your melancholy and sadness. Manny has no idea what to make of Bode. He has put his career on the line multiple times by listening to Bode, but Bode has never proved him wrong. Now, so close to Bode’s parole, he has compromised Manny in the worst possible manner. Bode tries to make Manny understand that maybe Sleeper is responsible for this. But how will they prove it? Sleeper is in a prison somewhere else. Manny is at his wit’s end. Bode tells Freddy about it, but Freddy believes that someone tampered with the test results. Both of them suspect Felix Lonnegan (Episode 21), but they have no idea how to even try to question him. Meanwhile, Freddy’s wedding is knocking on the door, and Bode is supposed to be his best man. At the moment, no one knows whether Bode will even make it out of Three Rock or be sent to prison.
Uncertainty
Things are also left bleak between Eve and her new date, Melody, and Jake and Cara. While Eve’s date, Melody, with whom Eve’s just spent the night, leaves after seeing Gabriela, Cara seems to be uncomfortable with the fact that Bode will be moving in with Jake, not immediately but eventually. While her concern seems to be that just like they cannot be at her place because she lives with her sister, Jake’s place too will be occupied after Bode arrives, and we can tell that it is her past with Bode that will prevent her from being with Jake at his place knowing that Bode is around. Jake probably understood it but didn’t say anything. Cara leaves for work, and then Eve joins Jake at the table. They then share their issues while having breakfast. That’s what best friends are for, right? Sharing what they can’t with other people. Luke arrives for Bode’s homecoming. It seems that he and Sharon know something that Vince doesn’t, and they will tell him about it only after Bode comes home. There is no end to the Leone family’s secrets.
With help from her friend Louisa, Freddy’s fiancée, Cookie has planned to surprise him a day before their wedding. She is scared for obvious reasons, but her fear is about to get a whole lot worse because the rain is bringing a bigger surprise for her and a part of Edgewater, i.e., a mudslide.
Havoc
Houses and other structures have been destroyed; people are stuck in and under them; the mudslide is one of the worst natural disasters that Edgewater has faced. Multiple Cal Fire engines arrive, and so does Three Rock. Vince, Sharon, Jake, Eve, Gabriela, Manny, Bode, and Freddy are all at the site, and it’s not a good view. Sharon takes charge and tells the others their assignments. One by one, bodies are recovered, and people are brought out from under the rubble. In the middle of all this chaos, Bode opens up to Gabriela and his parents about his failed drug test. While Gabriela believes that he is innocent and confronts her father for doubting Bode, Bode’s parents are in shock, with Sharon quite sure that Bode did indeed relapse because he has a past with drugs. Manny seems helpless because, no matter how much he wants to believe in Bode, there is hard proof against it. And since there was a time when Bode did drugs, he too, like Sharon, cannot help but doubt what Bode is saying. Eve meets Melody, who reveals that she is an investigator looking into a case concerning Three Rock. But what for? Is it the drugs? Is Bode involved in it?
Hope
Freddy meets Louisa, all covered in mud. She tells him that Cookie and their baby are stuck somewhere. Freddy rushes to inform Bode, who just saw his mother being taken to the hospital by his dad. Bode’s news didn’t go down well with Sharon, and she collapsed. We shouldn’t forget that she has a condition too. Freddy finds Cookie holding their baby Jamie, stuck to her chest, in the mud. Jamie is taken to the hospital by Louisa, while Bode and Freddy begin their work on getting Cookie out. It’s not easy, as the mud is solidifying. On the other hand, we have Jake and Eve looking for another kid named Dylan. It’s one of those situations where we do not know whether a person is dead, alive, or dying in the worst way possible, and the possibility that they may be searching in the wrong place makes the thought even worse. As people are being unearthed here, back at the hospital, Vince sees the light at the end of the tunnel as Luke reveals that he is a match for Sharon, who, as the MRI reveals, collapsed due to her kidney condition. A hug and thanks are all it takes for the brothers to set their differences aside. It may not be enough to absolve Luke of what he did earlier, but what he is doing proves that he cares for his family.
Secondary Terror
Cal Fire and Three Rock have managed to rescue a lot of people stuck there, and operations are underway in full swing. That’s when Gabriela blows her warning horn. Another mudslide is on its way. Everyone is told to evacuate the site immediately, and they will have to return after the slide comes to a standstill to resume search and rescue. Bode and Freddy remain to bring Cookie out while Jake and Eve try to dig out the fridge inside, where Dylan is stuck. It’s no less than a miracle the kid is still alive, and Jake and Eve are in no way willing to leave him there like that. The mudslide hits. Manny and Gabriela return after the slide stops and begin searching for them. Jake and Eve manage to protect Dylan by keeping him inside the fridge and taking cover behind a structure. Gabriela and Manny find Freddy and Cookie. They and Bode had managed to tie themselves to a pole. They are hurt but okay. Bode got separated due to the force of the slide, but he, too, survived without much harm. Gabriela breathes a sigh of relief to see Bode. She had refused to believe that she had lost him, but seeing him walk towards her was like a second chance at being together again. Jake and Eve bring Dylan to his parents. Finally, the storm has passed. Or has it?
Does Bode Get Parole?
The day of Bode’s parole hearing finally arrives. Before the hearing, Jake finds out that Cara possibly got pregnant with Bode’s child, and that child is living somewhere. Although she isn’t sure if the child is Bode’s or not, She has named her Genevieve. Melody speaks to Bode, who finds out that the real reason why Freddy’s wrongful conviction case is being stalled is that he turned in a bag full of cash that Bode found at the train crash site (Episode 18). So, Bode is provided with two options: either he can speak his mind, which will prolong the investigation into his drug case, or he can accept that he relapsed, and Freddy will be set free. On the one hand, he has his family, who are waiting for him, and on the other hand, he has his best friend, who is about to get married. We feel like we know what Bode will do, but we refuse to accept it. At the hearing, Bode admits his fault and says that he has relapsed. With his family and friends watching, Bode is sentenced to prison. For how long? We do not know. He wants Gabriela to forget him. Vince, who managed to get rid of his hatred for his son and was perhaps happier than even Sharon to have their son back at home, tells her to do whatever it takes to get Bode out. Sharon, also broken, has no idea how. She has already done it once by keeping Bode at Three Rock. Season 1 of Fire Country ends with Freddy, now acquitted, hugging Cookie while Bode is put behind bars. Freddy doesn’t even know the sacrifice his best man made for him. And we do not know when he will find out. Also, we learn that Bode has a child.
Fire Country Season 1 ends on a very sad note. After all that Bode went through, it is very unfortunate to see him go back to prison. But then again, what he did is what makes him Bode Leone. He will go all in to save a loved one. Maybe he still hopes to be with Gabriela, and maybe Gabriela will wait for him as she promised. But for how long? How long will Bode serve in prison? Only Fire Country Season 2 can answer these questions.
